How do you clothe a book? On the occasion of the publication of acclaimed author Lahiri’s essay-length book on the topic, she and book designer Weiss will explore the art of the book jacket from the perspectives of both reader and writer. The conversation, presented by Labyrinth Books and the Lewis Center for the Arts, begins at 6:00 p.m. at the bookstore at 122 Nassau Street and is free and open to the public.
In her deeply personal reflection, The Clothing of Books, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri probes the complex relationships between text and image, author and designer, and art and commerce. She delves into the role of the uniform; explains what book jackets and design have come to mean to her; and how, sometimes, “the covers become a part of me.”
Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of four works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland. She has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the Premio Gregor von Rezzori, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, a 2014 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama, and the Premio Internazionale Viareggio-Versilia, for In altre parole (In Other Words), which appeared in English translation last spring.
Amanda Weiss is a book designer at Princeton University Press. Her interests include print design, brand identity, lettering, and typography.
